(CNN) -- A deaf Texas man, who was imprisoned for years for a sexual crime, was released from a Texas jail Tuesday after a judge exonerated him on Monday based on new evidence.

Stephen Brodie was convicted of the 1990 sexual assault of a 5-year-old girl largely based on his confession rather than physical evidence, CNN-affiliate KTXA reported.

But new evidence emerged -- a fingerprint at the crime scene from a different man who has since been convicted of a sexual crime against an underage teen.

On Monday, Brodie was in a Dallas courtroom where Judge Lena Levario ruled that he would be released, the judge's clerk told CNN.

Video: DNA exonerates deaf inmate

Brodie told KTXA that he was harassed by police and confessed to the crime to get them to leave him alone. At some points during the investigation, he was interrogated without a interpreter present, the affiliate reported.

"I felt like I was taken advantage of because I am deaf," Brodie told the affiliate in a jailhouse interview where he spoke through a sign language interpreter.

A spokesman for Richardson police, the department that arrested Brodie, told KTXA that the department did a thorough and competent investigation.